Yah! pic.twitter.com/KoiJHzOUWg
— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) June 19, 2014
"He's done it." – Vin Scully
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 19, 2014
Page 171 of 381
By Jon Weisman
It was the strikeouts.
For nearly the entire night, Colorado’s hitters simply could not find the ball.
Right or wrong, when I imagined Clayton Kershaw throwing a no-hitter — and how often, how very often I imagined it — I imagined he’s get his seven or eight strikeouts, but the majority of the outs would be of efficient dispatch. Lots of first-pitch groundouts.
Instead, the strikeouts came by the bushel, so much so that with four outs remaining in the game, Kershaw had a chance to tie the franchise record of 18 strikeouts in a game, held by Sandy Koufax and Ramon Martinez.
Kershaw did break one record of some obscurity but significance nevertheless. His Game Score of 102 was the highest in Dodger history, higher even than Koufax during his 14-strikeout perfect game, and a concise testimony to his dominance. Only Kerry Wood, in his 20-strikeout game, had a higher Game Score.
He was the first player ever to strike out at least 15 without allowing a hit or walk.
And the 26-year-old lefty finished it off on only 107 pitches. There were nine groundouts, and only three balls in the air all night. I counted only one three-ball count for Kershaw tonight, to Josh Rutledge in the second inning.
Clayton Kershaw was walking on the sun.
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By Jon Weisman
So that’s what it’s like to stare into the sun.
Clayton Kershaw lassoed the brilliant light of 191 previous Major League starts and unleashed it on a Colorado Rockies team that had no shield, no defense. And baseball fans around the world could only gaze in wonder.
Striking out a career-high 15 batters, Kershaw pitched his first career no-hitter — and of course, the second by a Dodger in less than a month — wiping out the Colorado Rockies, 8-0.
Kershaw had taken one previous no-hitter into the eighth inning, on May 17, 2009, before Cody Ross broke it up with a double.
Tonight’s was a perfect game before Hanley Ramirez’s throwing error to lead off the seventh inning. Undaunted, Kershaw retired the final nine Rockies, needing only one outstanding defensive play, a deep throw from back of third base by Miguel Rojas.
Cory Matthews and Topanga Lawrence: pic.twitter.com/nMDuosolbs
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 19, 2014
By Jon Weisman
My cultural translator tells me that as “The Brady Bunch” was to my generation and “Saved by the Bell” was to the generation that immediately followed, so was “Boy Meets World” to the generation or half-generation after that, which explains all the excitement that immediately surrounded Disney Channel’s plans to spin the latter series into “Girl Meets World.”
Imagine if Greg and Marcia had gotten married become co-parents through entirely moral means. That’d beat “The Brady Brides” with all its unnecessary spouses any day.
So was it a big deal that Cory and Topanga were at Dodger Stadium tonight? To those who form our nation’s future, I have no trouble believing that it was.
The Dodgers are floating all around you ….
Rockies at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.
Kershaw CXCII: Kershawctify
Dee Gordon, 2B
Hanley Ramirez, SS
Yasiel Puig, RF
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Matt Kemp, LF
Scott Van Slyke, CF
A.J. Ellis, C
Miguel Rojas, 3B
Clayton Kershaw, P
Kershaw CXCII: Kershawctify
Dee Gordon, 2B
Hanley Ramirez, SS
Yasiel Puig, RF
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Matt Kemp, LF
Scott Van Slyke, CF
A.J. Ellis, C
Miguel Rojas, 3B
Clayton Kershaw, P
By Jon Weisman
You know how when a batter’s on a hot streak, the baseball is as big as a beachball?
That’s how big the MLB scoreboard is for the Dodgers right now. Every time they look up at it lately (well, eight times in the last 10 days), the National League West-leading San Francisco Giants have eephused a big, rainbow-colored loss.
Having been bounced by the Chicago White Sox twice in 18 hours, including 7-6 this afternoon in Illinois, San Francisco has surrendered more than half of its once-proud 9 1/2-game advantage. Los Angeles can come within four games of first place if Clayton Kershaw can hold off the Rockies tonight.
“There’s no doubt you gain a little energy by creeping,” Dodger manager Don Mattingly said. “It’s like you’re chasing somebody in a race, right? And you’re getting closer … it’s never motivating when that guy’s running and you can’t see him anymore. I think the fact that we’re able to kind of get a little bit of view, I think it helps.
“But that’s only short-lived. You’ve still got to take care of business over the long haul.”
To that end, some players are closer to action:
- Juan Uribe, out since May 20, will begin a rehab assignment Thursday in Rancho Cucamonga, designated hitting in his first game.
- Justin Turner, whose last start was June 12, could play tonight, but Mattingly is hoping to combine one more day of rest with Thursday’s off day before starting him Friday in San Diego.
- Hanley Ramirez, who left Tuesday’s game with a contusion on his right ring finger, was listed in the starting lineup, though he stood to be reevaluated after batting practice. Mattingly was happy that it was even a possibility Ramirez could play.
- An MRI behind him, Carl Crawford remains in Arizona, continuing to wait for progress on his left ankle that will allow him to resume his recovery work.
- Scott Elbert, recovering from multiple operations including Tommy John surgery, has begun a rehab assignment in Ogden. Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A. has more.
- Grant Holmes, the first-round draft pick who officially signed with the Dodgers on Tuesday, will take the Dodger Stadium mound for his first Major League start on June 28, 2017.*
*I might have made this up.
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By Jon Weisman
From some fair diamond, miles upon miles away, Eugenio Velez looks at Carlos Triunfel and shakes his head.
Triunfel, the Dodgers’ all’s-a-shortstop-that’s-going-to-shortstop tonight after Hanley Ramirez joined Justin Turner (not to mention Juan Uribe, Chone Figgins and Alex Guerrero) on the sidelines in the seventh inning tonight, hit his first career home run immediately upon entry, providing a valuable insurance run as the Dodgers clung to a 4-2 victory over the Rockies.
The 24-year-old April 2 acquisition from Seattle has two hits in his first two at-bats as a Dodger, two more than Velez had for the 2011 Dodgers in 37 at-bats. But I come not to bury Velez. Not to praise him, either, but mainly to point out that there are no small parts in baseball, only small actors with unpredictable comic timing.
As the Dodgers aim to climb out of a 9 1/2-game hole in the National League West for the second summer in a row — and in the past nine days, they have shaken the streets of San Francisco, reducing their distance from the Giants by 4 1/2 games — the little guys and role players, whom the narrative so recently told us the Dodgers were sorely lacking, have loomed large.
Consider what’s happened merely on the left side of the infield since Uribe went on the disabled list:
- Turner is OPSing .764 on the season and .951 in his last 95 plate appearances since May 9.
- Figgins had a .373 on-base percentage before going on the disabled list himself.
- Erisbel Arruebarrena went 4 for 13 with a walk.
- Miguel Rojas is 6 for 21 (.286).
- Jamie Romak is … for now, keeping us humble. But stand by.
Together, the group has hit adequately. It has fielded adequately. It has done both with the occasional flourish, particularly from Turner until his calf started acting up.
But this is what the reserve role demands. Hold the fort and fire off the occasional salvo. Same with the Scott Van Slykes and Drew Buteras of the ravine. While observers near and far were quick to point out all the Schumakers and Puntos that the 2014 Dodgers lacked, what they weren’t noticing was that a new breed was coming along right under their noses.
Combine that with a little well-directed Ramirez team spirit, and lo! Forsooth, a new narrative. There comes a time when, instead of focusing on what you isn’t present or isn’t working, you start making the best of what is.
Note on the headline: Too much. I know.
What’s it like to go around the bases in less than 14 seconds? Let Jon SooHoo take you inside the eyes of Dee Gordon.
— Jon Weisman
Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers
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By Jon Weisman
The Dodgervision production team gave us Dee Gordon’s time around the bases on this third-inning jaunt: 13.9 seconds, or faster than any Major Leaguer has been clocked this decade by Tater Trot Tracker.
That alone would have made it a happy night for Gordon, but he added three singles and two runs tonight against Colorado for the Dodgers. It was the third time in his career Gordon has had at least four hits, along with one game in 2011 and his five-hit game earlier this year. And he had that all done by the sixth inning.
Gordon, who entered play tonight with a season-low .321 on-base percentage, quickly bumped that up to .333 after walking in his fifth at-bat of the evening.
By Jon Weisman
A.J. Ellis dancing the can-can in a gray shirt on a catcher’s mask sidelined the Dodger catcher for a little more than two weeks, but now that he’s back, he is marching on to vintage A.J. Ellis form.
Going 2 for 2 with a walk in his first three at-bats of Monday’s Dodgers-Rockies game before grounding out, Ellis has now reached base in 20 of his past 38 plate appearances — with two doubles, six singles and 12 walks. In that stretch, he has struck out three times.
Ellis pushed his batting average above .200 for the first time since March 30, but more importantly, his on-base percentage was up to .408. Hitting with more power is the next piece of the puzzle.
In his first start of the 2012 season, Chad Billingsley allowed four baserunners in 8 1/3 shutout innings while striking out 11. (Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers)
Rockies at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.
Dee Gordon, 2B
Hanley Ramirez, SS
Yasiel Puig, RF
Matt Kemp, LF
Scott Van Slyke, 1B
Andre Ethier, CF
A.J. Ellis, C
Miguel Rojas, 3B
Hyun-Jin Ryu, P
Dee Gordon, 2B
Hanley Ramirez, SS
Yasiel Puig, RF
Matt Kemp, LF
Scott Van Slyke, 1B
Andre Ethier, CF
A.J. Ellis, C
Miguel Rojas, 3B
Hyun-Jin Ryu, P
By Jon Weisman
Chad Billingsley first described himself as “flustered” by the turn of events that has brought him face-to-face with a second year of surgery in a row, this time to repair a torn flexor tendon, as Ken Gurnick of MLB.com reports here.
Normally you’d might expect “frustrated,” a word Billingsley in fact later used with reporters here, but “flustered” adds a level of agitation that speaks to his eagerness to get back in the game.
Billingsley will miss the remainder of the 2014 season as he recovers from his latest operation. By the time the 2015 campaign begins, the right-hander, who turns 30 next month, will have pitched 12 Major League innings in more than 80 weeks.
“Bills is a good friend of mine, so I just feel bad for him,” said Clayton Kershaw, for six years a teammate of Billingsley. “I know how much he loves to complete and how much he wanted to pitch, and I can’t imagine going through that whole rehab process and finding out that news. You just try to put yourself in his shoes and be there for him the best you can, and realize it’s a pretty terrible situation.”
The celebration continues tomorrow, when the @LAKings bring Lord Stanley to Dodger Stadium: http://t.co/SqOlZKvxph pic.twitter.com/R564puZ70n
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 16, 2014
Tuesday at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers will honor the Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings — who will bring the Stanley Cup trophy to the ballpark — during pregame ceremonies prior to the Dodgers’ game against the Colorado Rockies.
— Jon Weisman
By Jon Weisman
Tony Gwynn, the Baseball Hall of Famer who played 20 seasons for the San Diego Padres and the father and brother of former Dodgers Tony Gwynn Jr. and Chris Gwynn, has died at age 54.
The joyful Gwynn had 271 of his 3,141 career hits against the Dodgers, batting .330 with a .396 on-base percentage and 49 doubles against them in 225 games and 931 plate appearances, and .329 in 112 games at Dodger Stadium. From 1993-95, Gwynn batted .479 (56 for 117) with 18 walks against the Dodgers.
He had 78 multi-hit games against the Dodgers, and on June 26, 1997, he hit a game-winning, inside-the-park grand slam to beat Los Angeles at Dodger Stadium.
As great an opponent as I have ever seen at Dodger Stadium … rest in peace, Tony Gwynn.
Ahead of Father’s Day, I talked to several Dodgers about how they remained connected with their families when they spend so much of their lives away from home. Below, the reprint from this month’s Dodger Insider magazine (click each page to enlarge):
— Jon Weisman
Diamondbacks at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.
Dee Gordon, 2B
Hanley Ramirez, SS
Yasiel Puig, RF
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Matt Kemp, LF
Andre Ethier, CF
A.J. Ellis, C
Miguel Rojas, 3B
Dan Haren, P
Dee Gordon, 2B
Hanley Ramirez, SS
Yasiel Puig, RF
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Matt Kemp, LF
Andre Ethier, CF
A.J. Ellis, C
Miguel Rojas, 3B
Dan Haren, P
By Jon Weisman
Don Normark, whose photographs helped chronicle the pre-Dodger Stadium history of Chavez Ravine, died June 5 at age 86.
Among other things, Normark’s images served as the basis for his book, Chavez Ravine: 1949
The doc itself depicts how Chavez Ravine was taken control of by the city of Los Angeles, years before the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn.
From his Times obituary by Elaine Woo:
A class assignment to find a postcard view of L.A. led him to scout the terrain above downtown. At the top of a hill, he looked down and discovered “a village I never knew was there.”
He became a familiar presence among the 1,000 families who lived in the three neighborhoods of Chavez Ravine — La Loma, Bishop and Palo Verde. Luckily for Normark, much of life there took place outside, “in public, where the stranger’s camera could see.” The residents’ acceptance of him was, he wrote in his book, “like a gift to me,” yielding evocative images of a working man with a lunchbox heading home on a winding dirt path or a grinning boy covered with broken eggshells from Easter cascarones.
Another remembrance of Normark comes from J. Michael Walker at L.A. Observed’s Native Intelligence.
